i'm supposed to go back to work on august 19th but i don't know if that's going to happen. my almost 8 week old is very high-needs and has been since day 1. he hates sleeping flat on his back and pretty much refuses to do so. he needs to be bounced/rocked/walked to sleep and never falls asleep on his own. if he's sleepy and i'm walking with him, he doesn't like if i sit down. he screams his head off and becomes hysterical. the only way i can sometimes get him to sleep on his own is if i put him on his tummy with a paci but not even this works every time. a lot of times if he's awake he's fussy and hard to please. he does have some content moments but some days it seems all i do is bounce him and hope he falls asleep.

how will daycare handle this? i'm terrified that he's going to be left in his crib to CIO and pass out from sheer exhaustion. i'm seriously considering quitting my job and staying home with him even though it's never been the plan. i'm so confused and overwhelmed.

How it will be handled depends entirely upon your choice of daycare provider. I would call the daycare and have a conversation about this. You might be pleasantly surprised. And, if not, at least you'll know what you're dealing with.

I guess I should have added that he won't stay sleeping unless I'm still holding him or occasionally if I put him on his tummy. that's my real concern. I'm not as concerned about the whole getting to sleep issue - it's the staying asleep that worries me. as soon as I put him down his eyes pop open and he starts screaming. his pediatrician told us that we should put him down when he's drowsy but we can't even get him to sleep away from us if we lay him down totally passed out asleep!

Most daycare providers that work with babies are used to dealing with stuff like this. Definitely have a conversation about it with the people who will be caring for your child, and see what solutions they prefer (and whether that fits in with what you want for your child).

For what it's worth, babies sometimes will behave in very different ways for strangers than they do for mama. Trust me on that.